Horseshoe-blank



(No Model.)

A. W.- HAMAKER & J. E. PEGK.

HORSESHOE BLANK.

No. 329,451. Patented Nov. ,3, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AARON WOOD HAMAKER AND JOHN EDWIN PEOK, OF MOUNDSVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA.

HORSESHOE-BLANK.

PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,451,6lated November 3, 1885.

Application filed June 10, 1885. Serial No. 168,229. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, A. W. HAMAKER and J. E. PEOK, of Moundsville, in the county of Marshall and State of West Virgina, have invented an Improved Horseshoe-Blank, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to wrought metal horseshoe-blanks made by machinery and sold as articles of manufacture in the hardware stores,whence they are bought by blacksmiths and finished up by them to suit the feet of each horse or mule.

Figure 1 of the drawings is an elevation in perspective of the ordinary machinemade w rought-metal shoe-bl ank as purchased by the blacksmith. Fig. 2 is a similar figure showing the article as improved by us. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing the form of shoe after it has been finished up by the blacksmith.

In the drawings, A represents the Web of a machine shoeblank. which may have the inside bevel, a, to avoid pressure upon any part of the foot except the hoof-shell; or the upper surface may be fiat. Both have their advocates, and both surface-forms are old and wellknown to the public.

The shoe-blank shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings is manufactured and sold in immense quantities, but is found to be open to several objections. The first is that the toe wears out much more rapidly than any other part of the shoe, and compels the removal thereof before the remainder of the web is at all worn out, thus necessitating too frequent removals and the honey-combing of the shell with nail-holes. This injures the horses hoof and entails an unnecessary expense upon his owner. Another radical defect is that it is flat-bottomed, so as to divide the strain equally along the whole shell of the hoof. Nature made no provision for taking the strain in this way. At the toe the shell is thick and the hoof callous to be insensible to the blow of impact as it first strikes the ground, while the heel and frog constitute a spring which then succeeds in contacting with the ground, so as to take up the jar and shock. The shell between the heel and toe being slight and thin was apparently not intended to take the direct strain any more than it does in the human foot; hence it will be perceived that we aggregate the metal under the toe, at B, and draw it out comparatively thin from the points b b to the heel supports b b, which may be turned down at right angles on the end by the blacksmith to raise the heels to a level with the toe, or the hoof shell may be so pared as to give a level set to the shoe without it. This gives a hollow space at bottom between heel and toe.

\Ve are aware thatin horseshoe-blanks asmall portion of metal has been drawn up over the too for a clip; also that a blank has been made with an integral clip and welded toe-calk; but these do not embody our idea, which is to provide for the greater rapidity of wear at the toe where comes the impact before the rest of the shoe comes down. With ordinary shoes many horses will wear the toe to the thickness of a wafer in two weeks,while the rest of the shoe has a months wear in it. Nevertheless it comes oft and is thrown aside as old iron. By drawing the metal under the toe to v a flat sector-shaped bearing of nearly or twice the thickness of the heel-ends we make the wear at the toe and heel uniform,or very nearly so. Thus the evenness of tread in the shoe is preserved, and there is no tendency to strain in the foot or leg. A toe or clip may be welded on our blank if desired; but we deem them entirely unnecessary nine months in the year; hence,

What we claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

A horseshoe-blank having the metal drawn up under the toe to a flat bearing of nearly or quite twice the thickness of the heel ends, as shown and described.

AARON WOOD HAMAKER. JOHN EDWIN PEOK.

\Vitnesses:

W. V. WILKINsoN, B. F. HODGMAN. 

